The fact that a combustible material may be ignited and then will release an active, vaporizable ingredient as it continues to smolder is well known. Incense sticks and mosquito coils are only two examples of types of formed combustible materials. The most direct approach to igniting such an item is to place the stick or coil on a non-flammable surface and ignite it. The main disadvantages of such an approach are obvious: the smoldering coil can be directly touched by humans or animals, and, if it is knocked over and contacts a flammable material such as paper, it may cause a fire.
Thus, various types of holders have been developed. Such holders are usually designed to both enclose the ignited combustible material and to diffuse the emitted vapors. The majority of such holders have been designed as incense burners. A frequent design is a footed deep bowl-like structure with a cover with vent holes. A block or cone of incense is burned in the covered bowl, often on a bed of sand or other substance that both supports and insulates the burning incense, while smoke escapes through the holes in the cover.
Protective support devices for holding ignited mosquito coils are also known. One such device is described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,796,002 to Katsuda, Can for Mosquito Coils. This patent discloses a can having an inner lid with openings there through and a top lid with a wire screen across the inside of the top lid. Mosquito coils may be stored with the can. When the user wishes to burn a mosquito coil, he removes one from the can, inverts the upper lid upon the can body to form a support for the coil, and places the top lid over the ignited coil.
Another device for burning mosquito coils is disclosed by U.S. Pat. No. 4,126,958 to Yokoyama, Fumigator for Mosquito Coil. This patent discloses a two part closeable container, with a solid dish-shaped body portion and an apertured lid portion. Each portion has a net of glass fibers placed over and within its inner surface. The ignited mosquito coil is placed upon one of the nets and the container then closed.
Both of the devices described above, while they accomplish the dual purpose of improving the combustion of the coil while preventing undesired contact--by either users or flammable materials--with the ignited coil, are complicated and therefore relatively expensive structures.
An extremely simple and inexpensive support for an ignited mosquito coil, is disclosed by U.S. Pat. No. 2,765,579 to Gordon, Insect Repellent Device. This patent discloses a foldable container that holds a mosquito coil supported by a spring over an area of heat-reflective material upon the inside surface of the container. While this device is simpler and cheaper than the containers discussed previously, it lacks any type of protective covering over the ignited coil. It is also a one-use package.
What is not disclosed by the prior art is a simple, inexpensive yet reuseable support stand for an ignited stick of a combustible substance containing an active ingredient, a stand that also has protective features.